CJ305 Criminal Evidence

CJ305 Criminal Evidence

Welcome to our Seminar!!!

(We will begin shortly)

Tonight – Unit 7

(Chapter 9 – The Exclusionary Rule)

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 6 Mini Review

• In Unit 6 we discussed:– Chapter 8 in your textbook

– Admissions

– Confessions

– Miranda Rule

– Exceptions to the Miranda Rule

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7 – Mini Preview

• In Unit 7 we will be discussing:– Chapter 9 in your textbook– The Exclusionary Rule– Searches and Seizures– Stop and Frisk– Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine– Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7

• What is the Exclusionary Rule?

• What is the rationale of the Exclusionary Rule?


• The Exclusionary Rule is one of the simplest of rules in CJ…it provides that illegally obtained evidence will be excluded from use against the defendant at trial.

• The rationale is based on the view that to deter police from disregarding the Const, it is necessary to exclude from evidence at trial the evidentiary fruits of illegal police conduct.


• What is the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine?

• What are the exceptions to the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine?

• What is the Good Faith Exception?

• What is the Impeachment Exception?

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7• The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine holds that any

other evidence which derives from illegally obtained evidence is also inadmissible at trial.– Exceptions:

• 1) Independent Source – Information also gained from a source independent from the illegality

• 2) Attenuation – Connection between the police conduct and discovery of challenged evidence is so unrelated as to dissipate the effect of the illegality.

• 3) Inevitable Discovery – Allows admissibility if it can be proven that the evidence would have inevitably been discovered.

• Good Faith Exception – Allows evidence to be admitted is there is a defect in the warrant so long as the executing officer has an objectively vaild belief that the warrant is valid.

• Impeachment Exception – Allow otherwise inadmissible evidence to be admitted for the limited purpose of impeaching the accused at trial.


• Which Amendment in the US Const deals with searches and seizures?

• What can be the subject of a search or seizure?

• What is the test to determine if there has been a search or seizure?


• The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and provides that no warrants for search and seizure shall be issued without probable cause.

• The search for and seizure of evidence is not confined to physical, tangible objects. The object of a search or seizure may be the fruits of a crime, materials used in a crime, evidence of a crime, weapons, contraband, or a person.

• The test to determine if there has been a search was set forth in Katz v. US. It stated a 2 pronged test called “the Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test:– The person alleging that a search occurred has exhibited an actual,

subjective expectation of privacy in the place searched.– The person's expectation is one that society is prepared to recognize

as reasonable or legitimate


• What is the False Friend Doctrine?

• What is the Open Fields Doctrine?

• What is considered Curtilage?


• False Friend Doctrine – What a person willingly reveals to a another on the assumption that they are a friend is revealed to the world if the friend turns out to be no friend at all. Katz and Hoffa v. US.

• Open Fields Doctrine – No reasonable expectation in open fields, even if LEOs tresspass in order to observe.– Pointing a flashlight at night to illuminate an area open to public

view does not trigger Fourth Amendment issues.• Curtilage – land immediately surrounding a home and

associated with it, where one has a reasonable expectation of privacy.– When garbage is placed outside for collection in containers on

the street, there is no legitimate expectation of privacy.• garbage was outside the curtilage and concluded that the Fourth

Amendment does not protect information knowingly exposed to the public.


• What constitutes the seizure of property?

• What constitutes the seizure of a person?

• What are the ways of making a reasonable search and seizure?


• A seizure of property occurs when there is some meaningful interference with an individual's possessory interest in that property. – Destruction of the property, taking the property from

the person's possession, or preventing persons from entering or leaving their home constitute meaningful interferences with individuals' possessory interests.

• Seizure of a person occurs when by means of physical force or show of authority, the person's freedom of movement is restrained; and, only if, in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would not have believed he or she were not free to leave.


• 3 methods for making reasonable search and seizures:– Made pursuant to a search warrant– Made via a less intrusive means such as

under the Terry Doctrine which is based on reasonable suspicion.

– Made via one of the well delineated exceptions to the requirement for a warrant


• What is a search warrant?

• What are the grounds for a search warrant?

• What is probable cause?

• What is the process for obtaining a search warrant?

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7• A search warrant is a written order, issued upon

probable cause by a neutral and detached magistrate, in the name of the people, to a peace officer directing the officer to search a particular person or place, and to seize specifically described property and bring it before the magistrate.

• Grounds for a search warrant– Property is the fruit of a crime– Property is the instrumentality of a crime– Property is evidence of a crime– Property is contraband– There is probable cause to believe that the person has one of

the above items on their person.• Probable cause – Facts and circumstances which would

cause a reasonable person to believe that a crime had been committed or was about to be committed.


• Officer must be able to show that there is sufficient reason (probable cause) for a search of the person or place.– Based on facts articulated in writing and sworn in a

signed affidavit. The place or things to be searched MUST be particularly described.

– Officer must seek approval from supervisor– Officer must submit the affidavit and application for

warrant to a neutral magistrate• See fig 9-1 (pg 276) for an example of a warrant and

affidavit.


• What is the knock and announce rule?

• What is the staleness doctrine?

• What are the exceptions to the warrant requirement?


• Knock and Announce: Requires that that officer must knock and announce his/her presence prior to forcibly entering a permises. Not required if the occupants are alerted to the officers presence.– No knock warrant – allows for exception to the above if there is

probable cause to show that knock and announce would put innocent people in harms way

• While there is no limit on the time that officers have to serve a warrant, service of a search warrant should be timely as probable cause can dissipate over time which would invalidate the basis of the search warrant.– Some Jurisdictions have specific times set by law (eg 10 days),

after which the search warrant become void.– Note: this is different from an arrest warrant which in most

cases does NOT become stale or void over time.


• Exceptions to the warrant requirement:– Search Incident to a lawful arrest (SILA) - Based upon the

necessity to protect the officer and prevent destruction of evidence, the exception permits an officer, without a warrant and further probable cause, to search the person and certain areas around an arrestee incident to a lawful arrest. Limited to: The person of the arrestee and the area within his or her immediate control (including any containers on the person or within the area)

• Protective Sweep – A quick and limited search to protect the safety of the otticers and others.. It is narrowly confined to a cursory visual inspection of those places in which a person may be hiding.

– Vehicle and Container - If a custodial arrest takes place while the arrestee is in a vehicle, or has just emerged from a vehicle, an officer may search, as incident to the arrest, the area immediately within the control of the arrestee.

• includes not only the passenger compartment of the vehicle but any containers, open or closed, in that compartment

• officer could search containers, both open and closed, in the vehicle’s passenger compartment

• The area subject to search does NOT extend to the trunk


– Inventory searches - permits a police officer to inventory the property of a vehicle or a person for the protection of the property and the police.

– Consent -- exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, as well as an exception to the probable cause requirement. Determination looks at whether consent was voluntarily given, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for consent.

• The totality of the circumstances includes consideration of the characteristics of the person giving consent, such as age, education, emotional state, or mental condition, as well as whether there was a show of force by the officer requesting consent.

• No formal wording is necessary for a consent to be considered freely and voluntarily given, but there should be some affirmative response, not a mere failure to object to the search.

• Silence alone is not deemed to be a consent– Exigent Circumstances– Plain view

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7• Exigent Circumstances -- An exigency is a situation that

requires immediate action. It will not be deemed unreasonable for an officer to search without a warrant under exigent circumstances. Four situations recognized (Minnesota v. Olson):– Hot pursuit of a fleeing felon– Imminent destruction of evidence– The need to prevent a suspect’s escape– The risk of harm to the police or to others

• Plain view -- An officer may seize an object without a warrant if:– The officer observes the object from a lawful vantage point.– The officer has a right of physical access to the object from the

lawful vantage point– The nature of the object is immediately apparent as an article

subject to seizure (i.e., contraband or a fruit, instrumentality, or evidence of a crime).

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 7 Mini - Review

• In Unit 7 we discussed:– Chapter 9 in your textbook– The Exclusionary Rule– Searches and Seizures– Stop and Frisk– Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine– Exceptions to the Warrant Requirement

CJ305 Criminal Evidence - Unit 8 – Mini Preview

• In Unit 8 we will be discussing:– Chapters 10, 11 & 13 in our text.– Line-ups– Show-ups– Direct Evidence– Circumstantial Evidence– Character Evidence– Physical Evidence….and of course much, much more…so until next week,

I look forward to seeing everyone on the discussion boards!!

Thank you!!!

Documents

CJ305 Criminal Evidence